WE ARE
At SH//FT, we bring our extensive experience working with top performers directly to you, offering expert guidance to master your breath, elevate your performance, and transform stress into strength.
WE ARE
At SH//FT, we bring our extensive experience working with top performers directly to you, offering expert guidance to master your breath, elevate your performance, and transform stress into strength.
We can learn and master the art of attention, presence, and agency when we start working with the raw honesty of our bodies.
Choice is the only power you have.
Responsibility is understanding that.
Choice is the only power you have.
Responsibility is understanding that.
Meet the experts
Brian Mackenzie
Founder & Creative Director
Brian is an innovator and pioneer
in developing and applying custom protocols to optimize human health and performance. His work harnesses and integrates respiratory (breathing), movement, strength & conditioning, and endurance-based training approaches to elicit unprecedented positive results. His protocols and programs have been used to accelerate and raise mental and physical performance in world-class Olympic and professional athletes, first responders, musicians, actors, top executives, elite military operators, the tactical firearms community, prisoners in institutions, and the health of people suffering from chronic and pathological issues.
Brian’s work is voluntarily and repeatedly subjected to rigorous 3rd party scientific testing, re-testing, and improvement, at top institutions. He has been contracted, and his work is involved in research projects at Stanford University School of Medicine, California State University Fullerton, San Francisco State University, and the UFC Performance Institute.
“The implementation of (these) training modalities have been an integral part of our success”
Sage Hopkins, Head Coach, San Jose St. Women’s Swimming & Diving
Work 1-on-1 with Brian
Brian is himself a highly accomplished practitioner.
He completed Ironman (Canada, 2004), the Western States 100-mile, and The Angeles Crest 100-mile runs using adapted training protocols he developed to improve performance. He is the co-founder of The Art of Breath, a division of SH//FT that teaches a principles-based approach to breath & performance. Brian has also co-authored the book Power Speed Endurance, The New York Times Best Seller UnBreakable Runner, and UnPlugged, which assesses the integration of emergent technology and human performance. He has voluntarily integrated and invested his programs at varying California State Prisons, including San Quentin, Pelican Bay, and Corcoran, with tremendous success. His programs have been featured in Outside Magazine, Men’s Health, Runners World, Triathlete Magazine, Men’s Journal, and periodicals such as The Economist. Brian and his protocols have been featured in 2 of Timothy Ferriss’ New York Times bestselling books, including: “The 4-Hour Body” and “Tools of Titans” and Scott Carney’s New York Times best-seller “What Doesn't Kill Us.”
His clients have included: Ari Emanuel, Kelly Starrett, Tim Ferriss, U.S. Military (Navy, Army, Marines - including elite units), varying Law Enforcement Agencies, Canadian Military (CANSOF), Jon “Bones” Jones, Laird Hamilton, Tia Clair Toomey (5X CrossFit Games Champion), Rich Froning Jr. (4X CrossFit Games Champion) and many others.
Brian is the Founder & Creative Director of SHIFT, Co-Founder and President of The Health and Human Performance Foundation, a non-profit organization dedicated to researching how breath and innate tools can optimize and help health and human performance.
Brian Mackenzie
Founder & Creative Director
Brian is an innovator and pioneer
in developing and applying custom protocols to optimize human health and performance. His work harnesses and integrates respiratory (breathing), movement, strength & conditioning, and endurance-based training approaches to elicit unprecedented positive results. His protocols and programs have been used to accelerate and raise mental and physical performance in world-class Olympic and professional athletes, first responders, musicians, actors, top executives, elite military operators, the tactical firearms community, prisoners in institutions, and the health of people suffering from chronic and pathological issues.
Brian’s work is voluntarily and repeatedly subjected to rigorous 3rd party scientific testing, re-testing, and improvement, at top institutions. He has been contracted, and his work is involved in research projects at Stanford University School of Medicine, California State University Fullerton, San Francisco State University, and the UFC Performance Institute.
Brian is himself a highly accomplished practitioner.
He completed Ironman (Canada, 2004), the Western States 100-mile, and The Angeles Crest 100-mile runs using adapted training protocols he developed to improve performance. He is the co-founder of The Art of Breath, a division of SH//FT that teaches a principles-based approach to breath & performance. Brian has also co-authored the book Power Speed Endurance, The New York Times Best Seller UnBreakable Runner, and UnPlugged, which assesses the integration of emergent technology and human performance. He has voluntarily integrated and invested his programs at varying California State Prisons, including San Quentin, Pelican Bay, and Corcoran, with tremendous success. His programs have been featured in Outside Magazine, Men’s Health, Runners World, Triathlete Magazine, Men’s Journal, and periodicals such as The Economist. Brian and his protocols have been featured in 2 of Timothy Ferriss’ New York Times bestselling books, including: “The 4-Hour Body” and “Tools of Titans” and Scott Carney’s New York Times best-seller “What Doesn't Kill Us.”
His clients have included: Ari Emanuel, Kelly Starrett, Tim Ferriss, U.S. Military (Navy, Army, Marines - including elite units), varying Law Enforcement Agencies, Canadian Military (CANSOF), Jon “Bones” Jones, Laird Hamilton, Tia Clair Toomey (5X CrossFit Games Champion), Rich Froning Jr. (4X CrossFit Games Champion) and many others.
Brian is the Founder & Creative Director of SHIFT, Co-Founder and President of The Health and Human Performance Foundation, a non-profit organization dedicated to researching how breath and innate tools can optimize and help health and human performance.
“The implementation of (these) training modalities have been an integral part of our success”
Sage Hopkins, Head Coach, San Jose St. Women’s Swimming & Diving
(Mobile) Work 1-on-1 with Brian
Emily Hightower
Education Director
Emily Hightower leverages her expertise
in the neurophysiology of trauma and resilience to help clients master their stress response and improve their quality of life. By combining over 25 years of experience in breath physiology, somatic movement, yoga, meditation, and wilderness excursions, Emily empowers high performers to disrupt limits, align with nature, and heal their bodies and minds.
Emily developed Neuro Nidra™, the Skill of Stress course, and co-created SH//FT Health with Brian MacKenzie. Her experiential approach enables clients to understand and direct their stress response to drive optimal performance under pressure while promoting long-term balance.
“Emily has given me a gift I can only repay by living fully!”
Robbie, Shift Health
Apply to work 1-on-1 with SH//FT Education Director Emily Hightower.
Before joining SH//FT, Emily founded Intrinsic, where she helped combat veterans, athletes, and clients recovering from substance abuse resolve past traumas and gain clarity using a science-based approach and tools such as breath, exposure, somatic yoga, archery, and integrative nutrition.
Earlier in her career,
Emily’s practice was based in a neurology clinic, where she integrated her approach with bio and neuro-feedback and neurology care. Her clients include the United States Special Operations Command Adaptive Care Unit and other Veterans services in the US and Abroad. She also served as the Education Director for the Headwaters Institute, facilitating river education seminars on 28 watersheds in the US and Chile.
Emily is a Master Yoga Teacher with 16,000+ hours of teaching experience specializing in Pranayama Breathing. She lives with her husband, Brian Hightower, and their son and loves to ski, run rivers, and bow hunt.
Emily Hightower
Education Director
Emily Hightower leverages her expertise
in the neurophysiology of trauma and resilience to help clients master their stress response and improve their quality of life. By combining over 25 years of experience in breath physiology, somatic movement, yoga, meditation, and wilderness excursions, Emily empowers high performers to disrupt limits, align with nature, and heal their bodies and minds.
Emily developed Neuro Nidra™, the Skill of Stress course, and co-created SH//FT Health with Brian MacKenzie. Her experiential approach enables clients to understand and direct their stress response to drive optimal performance under pressure while promoting long-term balance.
Before joining SH//FT, Emily founded Intrinsic, where she helped combat veterans, athletes, and clients recovering from substance abuse resolve past traumas and gain clarity using a science-based approach and tools such as breath, exposure, somatic yoga, archery, and integrative nutrition.
Earlier in her career,
Emily’s practice was based in a neurology clinic, where she integrated her approach with bio and neuro-feedback and neurology care. Her clients include the United States Special Operations Command Adaptive Care Unit and other Veterans services in the US and Abroad. She also served as the Education Director for the Headwaters Institute, facilitating river education seminars on 28 watersheds in the US and Chile.
Emily is a Master Yoga Teacher with 16,000+ hours of teaching experience specializing in Pranayama Breathing. She lives with her husband, Brian Hightower, and their son and loves to ski, run rivers, and bow hunt.
“Emily has given me a gift I can only repay by living fully!”
Robbie, Shift Health
(Mobile) Apply to work 1-on-1 with SH//FT Education Director Emily Hightower.
